Written by

Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

What’s in a name?MSU 2014 point guard recruit Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn is an immediate contender for anyone’s all-name team, and his name has multiple inspirations. The Bahamas native is named after his father, Lourawls Sr., who was named after late soul singer Lou Rawls. “Tum Tum” comes from the movie “3 Ninjas” — Tum Tum was the youngest of the three in the movie and, like Nairn, a legendary eater

More

ADVERTISEMENT

EAST LANSING — As Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn told it today, his morning call to Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo went like this:

Nairn: “Coach, you ready to go win a national championship?”

Izzo: “Are you serious?”

And then there was laughing and yelling, and eventually, Nairn had to get off the line to tell everyone else at a news conference at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kan. The 5-foot-11 senior point guard and Bahamas native, ranked No. 61 overall in his class by rivals.com, will play at MSU, picking the Spartans over Indiana, Minnesota and Oklahoma.

The other three were Nairn’s finalists for the past six weeks, having recruited him steadily for months or years — Oklahoma offered him as a sophomore. That Izzo was able to swoop in and steal him away in, essentially, two weeks of intensive recruiting serves as a counter to concerns about his clout on the recruiting trail.

Those concerns might have peaked Sept. 13, the day Nairn arrived in East Lansing for a hastily arranged official visit, and the day former MSU point guard target Tyler Ulis picked Kentucky over the Spartans.

“It’s kind of funny because there was a mini-meltdown about Ulis, but how do you think Oklahoma feels today?” said rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi, who considers Nairn the fastest player in his class. “They recruited this kid before anyone heard about him, and his best friend, who is also from the Bahamas (guard Buddy Hield), plays there and has had a great experience. … Then MSU comes in late and gets him. Of course this is an indicator of MSU’s brand. We should not worry about Izzo.”

This is MSU’s first commitment for the class of 2014, with battles still ongoing for players such as big man Cliff Alexander (Chicago), shooting guards Devin Booker (Moss Point, Miss.) and James Blackmon (Marion, Ind.), and forwards Kevon Looney (Milwaukee) and Reid Travis (Minneapolis).

Coaches can’t comment on recruits until they sign letters of intent, which Nairn can do starting Nov. 13. He ended the process shortly after visiting MSU, he said, because that visit “just blew me away.”

(Page 2 of 2)

He got to meet MSU legends such as Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson. He said he connected well with MSU’s players. And he talked more with Izzo about “growing as a person” than about basketball.

“I’m a tough competitor and a great leader, and that’s what Michigan State is known for,” said Nairn, who is a chiseled 180 pounds. “I’m not a great all-around player yet, but I’m getting there and I think I can reach my potential at Michigan State.”

The fact that MSU was recruiting point guards Tyus Jones (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Ulis this summer did not turn off Nairn. His coach at Sunrise Academy, Kyle Lindsted, said MSU recruited Nairn previously but that assistant coach Dane Fife was “straight up” about pursuing others. He said MSU’s coaches assumed Kansas would be tough to beat for Nairn, but then Kansas backed off.

Indiana coach Tom Crean told Nairn he could be the best leader in the Big Ten since former MSU great Mateen Cleaves — whom Crean coached as an Izzo assistant in the late 1990s — but Indiana has a sophomore standout at point guard in Yogi Ferrell.

Keith Appling is a senior point guard for a 2013-14 MSU team expected to be ranked in the preseason top three, and his backup, Travis Trice, will be a senior next season.

“We think there’s no better program, no better fit, for Tum Tum than Michigan State,” Lindsted said. “This is as high a character kid as there is, a one-in-a-million kid, a warrior, and a player who has worked so hard to get better.”

That includes sessions each day from 5-6:30 a.m. to work on Nairn’s primary weakness: his jump shot. It was “broke” a couple years ago, Lindsted said, but Nairn has changed his form.

“A lot of players talk about how tough they are and how hard they work,” Bossi said. “His actions back it up.”

Bossi is based in Kansas City, so he has been able to seen a lot of Nairn in the past couple years. A former track athlete in the Bahamas who has only been serious about basketball for four years, Nairn has learned to harness his speed and create for others, Bossi said.

“Now, I’m not saying he has their total game, but he truly has that Ty Lawson, T.J. Ford type of speed on the court,” Bossi said of Nairn. “And it’s not like he’s an out-of-control blur. … He’s improved a lot, and I think he’s an outstanding fit for Izzo’s personality and approach. They’ll mesh well.”